Tuesday, June 1, 2010

ME, JULIA & THE EGG

I am not a person you would call “particular” about things. Of course I’ve got my likes and dislikes but mostly I just kind of roll with the punches. However, there is one thing that is really important to me – I don't want my hard boiled eggs (which we refer to as HBs at this house) to have a grayish-greenish ring around the yolk when I slice them open.

These rings don’t kill you, but in my own mind they signify in a very unappealing way that the egg has not been cooked right.

Julia Child taught me how to cook the perfect HB egg. Here’s what you do.

Take your eggs out of the refrigerator, place them in a pan that will allow them all to lie on the bottom, and fill the pan with cold water, making sure that the eggs are well-covered. Place on stove.

Turn the burner on. Watch like a hawk for the water to come to a good boil. When that happens, turn the heat down a tiny bit. Immediately set your timer for exactly 5 minutes.

When your timer dings (or in my case the chicken clucks), turn the burner off, set the pan on a different burner and place a lid on the pan. Set your timer for exactly 12 minutes.

When the timer dings this second time, carry the pan of eggs over to the sink and run cold water into the pan until the eggs are cool enough for you to hold.

At this point your eggs are perfectly cooked. There will be no surprises when you crack them open and do whatever it is you are going to do with them.

The catch, of course, is not to get sidetracked and forget to be precise, like if you get a phone call, or someone knocks at the door. If you want perfect eggs, you have to put them first during that short period of time.